Gift Cards – The Real Stats Behind The Reward | Incentive & Motivation

If you’ve never given a gift card as a reward, you might be unsure of where to begin.  Perhaps you just thought that they were just for consumers. What if they expire too soon? How much do you give when you gift?  We took a look at the UKGCVA State of The Nation report which looked at stats from over 2000 consumers to see what you really need to consider.

55.8% of consumers redeem at Christmas
We all know that Gift cards are the ‘ideal gift’ at Christmas, but that’s also the time when they are most likely to be redeemed as well. Whereas 45% of people redeem at Summer, and 36% of people wait for a sale, there’s no bad time to give a gift card. If you really want to be a hit, consider the rising trend that 29.4% of people wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to spend their cards

 
17.5% of millennials self gift using gift cards
Starbucks are the pioneers of the self gifting ‘top up’ cards, and nearly 20% of millenials are self gifting – adding funds onto their gift card for use in the future. This banking of cash is an interesting trend, and could be a takeaway to look at when it comes to buying rewards for your millennial workforce. Still not sure? Consider that 44% of millenials buy at least one gift card every 2 months – competent to just 29% of baby boomers aged 35-54!

 
£2.2bn is spent in exceeding the value of a gift card
The gift card ,market for business purchases and rewards stands at £5.6bn, and an astounding £2.2bn is spent on ‘overspending’ the cards value – topping up at the till or checkout with their own value.
The takeaway? Gift card recipients feel more inclined to use gift card shopping as a ‘treat’ or experience in itself.

 
1 in 5 purchase leisure or experience Gift Cards
A huge 1 in 5 people are identifying leisure and entertainment gift cards as their ‘must haves’ with 1 in 5 saying they purchase at least one in the last year.

 
£30 is the sweet spot for gifts
When asked, Londoners said they give around £30 per card, baby boomers gave £27.91 and the total across all spend types was £26.21